Partner at McKinsey & Company
Amsterdam
Experienced Professional, leader of the Benelux Operations Practice, specializing in service industries (Banking, Insurance, Telecom).
I joined McKinsey after approximately two years in the Dutch army and five years at Akzo Nobel (in pharmaceuticals division Organon). I’d had a great time in my previous jobs, but wanted to become better as a leader: learn to listen more and structure problem solving more than I used to do. I thought that I’d join for a few years and then ‘return to the business’. This was ten years ago, and I am still enjoying McKinsey a lot. I feel that my background has kept me grounded and pragmatic, while McKinsey has brought me exactly what I had hoped for: steep learning. I am still learning every day, from my clients, from my teams, and from my colleagues all over the world.
On my first team, I recall thinking: ‘What have I done?’ As an experienced manager, I was now led by an engagement manager seven years younger than I was, and he taught me what at first seemed like the irrelevant practices of being a consultant. For instance, I wondered: ‘Why spend so much time on the structure of a storyline; isn’t it the delivery that counts?’ I am so glad that he taught me the fundamental tricks of the trade so thoroughly at the start. I now see that good structure can actually solve three quarters of problems and that storylines are essential for any business leader.
I have evolved from being an external advisor to business clients to becoming a real sparring-partner with deep relationships in organizations that feel almost like my own. This has allayed what had been one of my big concerns: will clients treat me as an outsider? I have come to learn that I can function well only if I feel that I exhibit the same ownership as my clients, and I am very pleased that the majority of my clients see me as a peer and an ‘insider’, someone they trust as much as (and on occasion even more than) their colleagues. Our careers are also growing in parallel: we have all moved up in our respective organizations, and together we are making a huge difference to society, in the Netherlands and for a large part also abroad.
At dinner parties and with friends in the pub, I often discover, listening to my friends, that I have an almost naïve feeling of happiness about my job: I have terrific freedom, the content of the work that I am doing is incredibly exciting, and I feel that I am contributing to a better society. As long as I feel I can’t improve on this feeling anywhere else, I will stay at McKinsey.
Do give Judith den Toom (our Experienced Professional Recruiter) a call on + 31 20 551 3096 if you want to learn more. Hope to talk to you soon.
Jasper